World News

Heatwave warnings across Australia as millions celebrate national day

Australian authorities have issued heatwave warnings for most of the country as millions celebrate Australia Day.Temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday, reaching the "high forties" Celsius in the southern states of Victoria and South Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology said.On Sunday, South Australia recorded temperatures as high as 48.5C, according to the bureau, which is warning of fire danger in parts of the country.Some national day celebrations on Monday have been cancelled out of safety concerns.Australia Day…

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‘This is horrifying’ – Minneapolis reels from second deadly shooting

‘This is horrifying’ – Minneapolis reels from second deadly shooting

EPAVolunteers and church staff handed out coffee, snacks and hand warmers at this church in Minneapolis on SundayAt the Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, the doors swung open and shut as locals sought refuge from the biting cold on Sunday.The 140-year-old building sits just blocks away from where Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was shot dead by federal immigration agents during a confrontation on Saturday morning.In the wake of the shooting, which marked the second time in…

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Japan returns pandas to China amid strained ties

Japan returns pandas to China amid strained ties

Kelly NgandShaimaa Khalil,Tokyo correspondentEPATwin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei will return to China on TuesdayThousands of people flocked to a zoo in Japan on Sunday to say farewell to the country's last two giant pandas, who are set to return to China on Tuesday.Emotions ran high at the Ueno zoo in Tokyo as people stood in line – some for as long as three-and-a-half hours – to see twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei one last…

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‘I spent £2,000 on one event’. Why Gen Z is obsessed with Hyrox

‘I spent £2,000 on one event’. Why Gen Z is obsessed with Hyrox

BBCAllana Falconer has competed in 20 different Hyrox races since taking it up in 2023Hyrox is a fitness craze that shows no signs of dying out - with 1.3m people expected to compete in an event somewhere in the world this year.The competition, which is split between running and fitness exercises, has proven particularly popular with young millennials and Generation Z - people in their twenties to early forties. Its rapidly growing popularity has been attributed to social…

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the extraordinary battle over what stays secret

the extraordinary battle over what stays secret

Daniel De SimoneInvestigations correspondent BBCListen to Daniel read this storyPaul Thompson was shot dead while being driven home in a taxi through Belfast in April 1994. He was murdered in a sectarian attack by loyalist paramilitaries who had set out to kill Catholics.The taxi driver was a friend who was collecting a fare at another address in the Springfield Park area in the west of the city. But no one at the address had rung the taxi firm.…

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Russia using Interpol’s wanted list to target critics abroad, leak reveals

Russia using Interpol’s wanted list to target critics abroad, leak reveals

Cate Brown, Max Hudson and Julia LuftBBC Eye InvestigationsBBCBusinessman Igor Pestrikov found Moscow had put him on a wanted list after he fled Russia in 2022Thousands of files provided by a whistleblower at Interpol expose for the first time the extent of Russia's apparent abuse of the international policing agency to target its critics abroad.The data provided to the BBC World Service and French investigative outlet, Disclose, reveals that Russia is using Interpol's wanted lists to request the…

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NRA and other US gun activists push back at Trump officials over Minneapolis shooting

NRA and other US gun activists push back at Trump officials over Minneapolis shooting

EPACrowds gathered in Minneapolis despite the freezing temperaturesThe National Rifle Association (NRA) has joined other US gun lobby groups in calling for a "full investigation" by the Trump administration into the killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota.Comments from the NRA come after a border agent fatally shot Pretti - registered nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital - in Minneapolis on Saturday.State and federal officials have given starkly different accounts. The Trump administration has said Pretti carried a gun…

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Unpicking the second Minneapolis shooting frame by frame

Bystander video footage has captured the moments before the killing of 37-year-old Minneapolis man Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers.The killing comes less than three weeks after Renee Good was shot dead by an immigration agent in the city.BBC Verify has analysed footage of the shooting from multiple angles, piecing together a detailed picture of what happened.Ros Atkins' report contains distressing images.Verification by Emma Pengelly, Paul Brown and Benedict Garman. Graphics by Mesut Ersoz. Video produced by Tom…

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Kenya’s ex-deputy president Rigathi Gachagua alleges assassination attempt in church attack

Kenya’s ex-deputy president Rigathi Gachagua alleges assassination attempt in church attack

Alfred Lasteck,BBC AfricaandLucy FlemingAFP/Getty ImagesRigathi Gachagu is a wealthy businessman popular in his home region of Mount KenyaProminent Kenyan opposition figure Rigathi Gachagua has alleged there was an attempt on his life during a Sunday church service.Gachagua, who was sacked as deputy president in an impeachment trial in 2024, claimed a gang of rogue police officers had attacked the church in Othaya in the central county of Nyeri, using bullets and tear gas.Without providing evidence, he accused his…

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‘Worst in living memory’ say those rescued from rising waters

‘Worst in living memory’ say those rescued from rising waters

EPA/ShutterstockTens of thousands of people in Mozambique are being rescued as rising waters continue to devastate the southern African nation - the worst flooding in a generation.Teams from Brazil, South Africa and the UK have been helping with life-saving rescue operations."For me, this is the first time I have experienced a calamity of this magnitude. Elders say a similar disaster took place in the 1990s," 24-year-old mechanic Tomaz Antonio Mlau says.EPA/ShutterstockMany areas of south and central Mozambique are…

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Venezuela frees dozens of political prisoners, human rights group says

A leading Venezuelan human rights group says at least 80 political prisoners have been released under pressure from the US.Alfredo Romero, head of Foro Penal, said his group was verifying the identities of those freed from prisons across the country on Saturday - and more releases were likely to take place.It is the latest batch of detainees released since the US seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a raid, and took him to New York to stand trial…

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Winter storm grips US as millions face power outages and disruption

A severe winter storm has brought heavy snow, and freezing temperatures to Americans across the United States.The National Weather Service has warned of dangerously cold wind chills with night-time temperatures falling below -20C in some cities.Calling the storms "historic," President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia.More on this story. Source link

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